I stitch, I write, I glue. I rip, I paint, I mend. I stitch, I rip, I patch.
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STL Today Article – Made in St. Louis: ‘Intuitive’ artist mixes …
Art & Soul: Suzy Farren
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After a career as a writer, I began to express myself visually. For years my work was characterized by grays, rusts and browns, the colors of the New Jersey countryside I had roamed as a child. But when the pandemic forced us inside, the longer I stayed isolated the more colorful my palette became. At first, I was perplexed by the bright yellows, blues, reds and oranges of my new work. Eventually I realized the pandemic had taken me deeper – deeper than things remembered– to a time long ago when every day was new, and all the world was a place of wonder.
Repetition in my work – whether by stitch or word – connects me to the past. I am drawn to gray, rust and brown, things old, frayed, decayed – all relics of the stones and fields of the land where I grew up. The combination of the organic and the indecipherable makes the work both familiar yet unknowable.
Artist Bio
Here are the shows in which I will have or have had work:
@suzyfarrenart | @suzyfarrenecoprint
2024
The Gallery at the Library, Hermann, MO, At Play. Four-Person Show
The Monday Club, Webster Groves, MO. Solace. Solo Show
The Green Door Art Gallery, Webster Groves, MO
Gretchen Brigham Gallery, St. Louis. Conversations. Four-Person Show
2023
Messing Gallery at Mary Institute Country Day School, St. Louis, Solo Show: Wonder
The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau, MO, Two-Person Show
Gretchen Bingham Gallery, St. Louis, Four Person Show, Light Gets In
Kirkwood Arts Commission, Kirkwood, MO, A featured artist,Spring/Summer
Gallery Row, St. Charles, MO. Practice Makes. . . Imperfect. Solo Show
Sager Reeves Gallery, Columbia, MO. Small Works Show
2022
Art St. Louis, Whimsey.
Heartland Gallery, Hillsboro, IL, Materiality, Fiber Invitational
St. Charles Community College, Abstract Heart. Abstract Invitational
Bunker Center for the Arts, Kansas City. Missouri Fiber Artists Book Show
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Fiber Invitational
Sager Reeves Gallery, Columbia, MO, Small Works
Gretchen Bingham Gallery, St. Louis, Four-Person Show
Angad Arts Hotel, Biannual Show
Judson House, Exhibiting Artist, First Friday Monthly Shows
Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ, The Unknown Nature of Being, Award of Excellence
Art Saint Louis, Parenthood – Award of Excellence
Art Saint Louis, The Conversation, Collaborative Work, Honorable Mention
Judson House, Grand Center, St. Louis, Three-Person Show (held over)
2021
Judson House, Grand Center, St. Louis, Three-Person Show
Judson House, Grand Center, St. Louis, Exhibiting Artist, First Friday Monthly Shows
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Biennial Ann Metzger Exhibit, Third Place
Art Saint Louis, XXXVVII, The Exhibition
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Member Show
Webster Arts, Print Show
Fragments, two-person show, Decatur Arts Council, Decatur, IL
Sager Braudis Gallery, Columbia, MO
8 th Annnual Abstract Sanctuary, Verum Ultimum Art Gallery, Portland, OR
Printin’, St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, MO
Remnants, Art Saint Louis, Award of Excellence
Maturity and Its Muse, Art Saint Louis
Counterpoints, Missouri Fiber Artists, University of Central Missouri Gallery,Warrensburg, MO
2020
State of the Arts 2020, Prairie Village Arts Council, Prairie Village, KS
The Exhibition, Art Saint Louis
Resident Artist, Green Door Gallery, Webster Groves, MO
Storytellers, Art Saint Louis
Life Interrupted, Art Saint Louis
This Moment, Art Saint Louis
Resident Artist, Green Door Gallery, Webster Groves, MO
Storytellers, Art Saint Louis
Life Interrupted, Art Saint Louis
2019
Solo Show, Threadbare, Erica Popp Gallery, St. Louis
Work in Innovations in Textiles:
St. Charles Community College Fiber Invitational
Art Saint Louis, Fiber Focus
Missouri Fiber Artists
Parish Gallery, St. Louis
St. Louis Artists’ Guild
Foundry Art Centre
Lillian Yahn Gallery
Guest Artist, Green Door Gallery, Webster Grove, MO
Art Saint Louis, Outliers
2018
Media in the Mix: A Group Exhibit, Fontbonne University, St. Louis
Reclaimed, Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO
2017
Alliance Art Gallery, Hannibal, MO, Guest Artist
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Constructed Visions
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, All Media Exhibit
Art Saint Louis, Honor Awards Show
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Reclaimed
2016
Ethical Society of St. Louis, Solo Show
Art Saint Louis, Serendipity (Jurors: Ken Botnick and Melissa Whitwam)
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Words + Text + Numbers
Foundry Art Centre, Noticing Nature (Juror I Waye Trinklein)
Walkers’ Gallery, San Marcos, TX, Sewing Our Stories: Personal, Cultural, Universal (Invited by Linda Kelsey-Jones)
Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, MO, Pairings
Manchester Arts, Fiber Arts Invitational (Curator: Dion Dion)
Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, MO, Missouri Fiber Artists Pairings
2015
William Woods University (Fulton, MO), Mildred C. Cox Gallery
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Missouri Fiber Artists, Pairings
Art Saint Louis, Fiber Focus (Juror: Marci Rae McDade)
Mendocino Art Center, Natural Dye Symposium (Juror: Yoshiko I. Wada) (Second Place Award) under Mendocino Art Center in 2015
Quincy (Illinois) Art Center Biennial Quad State-Exhibit (Juror: Miranda Krajniak)
Cedarhurst Center for the Arts (Mount Vernon, IL) Biennial (Jurors: Kathryn Nahorski and David Brinker)
St. Charles Community College (Missouri) Fiber Invitational (Curator: Christine Holtz)
Maryville University, Missouri Fiber Artists, Speaking of Fibers 2015 (Juror: Sandy Webster)
Foundry Art Centre, Missouri Fiber Artists, Speaking of Fibers 2015 (Juror: Sandy Webster)
Starlight Gallery, Highland, IL, Eight Hands: A Surface Design Collective (one of four featured artists)
Art on 30th, San Diego, “Just Sayin’”(a national juried show)
Foundry Art Centre, At Home, Honorable Mention (Juror Mark Appling Fisher)
2014
Art Saint Louis, XXIX – The Exhibition (Juror: Nancy Newman Rice)
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Contemporary Textiles and the Art of Stitchery (Curator: Barbara Simon)
Foundry Art Centre, Fiber Fever, An International Fiber Show (Juror: Mark Newport)
Art Saint Louis, Food Glorious Food
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Regional Summer Exhibition (Juror: Najjar Abdul- Musawwir)
Missouri Fiber Artists’ Member Show, “Most Provocative” Award (Juror: Erica Spitzer Rasmussen)
Art Saint Louis, Silence and Noise (Jurors: Marie Bannerot McInerney and Gary Passanise)
St. Charles Community College, Regional Juried Art Exhibition (Jurors: Brian Smith and Christine Holtz)
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, A Dream or a Memory (Juror: Anita Jung)
Jacoby Arts Center (Alton, IL) – Awards of Excellence Show
2013
Chesterfield (Missouri) Arts – The Language of Art (Juror: MJ Goerke)
Art Saint Louis, XXVIII – The Exhibition (Juror: Buzz Spector)
Cedarhurst Biennial Competition and Exhibit – Mitchell Museum of Art (Jurors: Jeffrey Hughes, Amy Nadler, Terry Suhre)
9th Annual Juried Exhibition, Jacoby Arts Center (Alton, IL) – Third Place Award (Juror: Chris Kahler)
That’s Paper, St. Louis Artists’ Guild (Curator: Leandra Spangler)
Beneath the Covers, Foundry Art Centre (Juror: M.J. Goerke)
Foundry Art Centre, Paperwork: In, On, and Of Paper VI (Juror: Betty Shew)
Art Saint Louis, Under the Influence (Jurors: Kit Keith and Tom Liddy)
St. Louis University Museum of Art, Missouri Fiber Artists, Speaking of Fibers 2013 (Juror: Janice Nesser-Chu)
2012
“Transform,” St. Charles Community College (Curator: Christine Holtz)
Jacoby Arts Center – 8th Annual Juried Exhibition (Juror: Laura Strand, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)
St. Louis Artists’ Guild – Ann Metzger Memorial National All Media Exhibition (Juror: Marla Prather, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)
Art Saint Louis – Blur (Juror: Jane Barrow and Bill Barret)
Craft Alliance – Emerging Artists
2011
Art Saint Louis XXVII – The Exhibition (Juror: Andrew Stein Raftery, Rhode Island School of Design)
Art Saint Louis – Fiber Focus (Juror: Lia Cook, California College of Arts)
Maryville University, Missouri Fiber Artists – Speaking of Fibers 2011 (Juror:
Victoria Crowder Payne)
BOOKS
A Call to Care: The Women Who Built Catholic Healthcare in America, Catholic
Health Association of the United States, 1996
The Healthcare Poor, Catholic Health Association of the United States, 1990